Dreams can come true. Wembley now beckons Bradford City. Europe possibly beckons, too. “This is the best trip I’ve ever been on,’’ sang the 6,500 jubilant visiting fans, revelling in the saves of Matt Duke, the leadership of Gary Jones and a powerful headed goal from James Hanson that drained the life from Aston Villa.

The best trip that Bradford fans sang about is a remarkable road to Wembley. A glance at some of the numbers involved further celebrate Bradford’s achievement and condemn Villa. The teams were separated by 62 places. Bradford cost only £7,500 to assemble. They are the first team from the fourth tier to reach a major English final since 1962.

There is a '1911 Lounge’ at Valley Parade, commemorating the club’s FA Cup triumph, and the decorators may need to get started on a 2013 Lounge. They could even qualify for Europe.

The trip started on Aug 11 and Hanson scored the extra-time goal that accounted for Notts County that night. Duke and Jones excelled at Meadow Lane and again played a crucial role here, just as they had done in the first leg. When Villa flew into Bradford in the opening half, enjoying 72 per cent possession, and laying almost a siege to Duke’s area, the keeper stood firm.

He was beaten by Christian Benteke’s volley but otherwise repelled allcomers. One of his saves from Charles N’Zogbia was of the very highest order. Jones worked overtime in midfield to disrupt Villa.

Hanson, who was stacking shelves in a supermarket three years ago, took his chance well. They gave every­thing for the City cause. The focus will be on the players but their manager, Phil Parkinson, deserves praise without end. On a negligible budget, he has built a side of real character, a collection of players who refused to yield when the pressure was on. Outside the Villa fraternity, many will delight in Bradford’s performance and success, confirmation that the dream factory of football is occasionally open for business. The underdog can have his day.

While Parkinson’s stock continued to rise, that of Paul Lambert slumped. He stood throughout on the edge of his technical area, ignoring the chunks of snow sliding off the roof and dropping around him, a meteorological metaphor. A cold snap enveloped him.

This was an evening of initial hope but deepening embarrassment for Lambert, who left the field at the end with some Villa fans in the Trinity Road Stand shouting “disgrace”. Lambert has his work cut out to convince the growing army of Villa sceptics that he is the man to lead them forward. He claimed that he hurt as much as those leaving the Holte End shaking their heads. Villa’s manager might hurt professionally but it is the personal, almost visceral feeling of hurt consuming Villa fans that is by far the deeper. They arrived on Tuesday night full of hope and left full of anger.

Lambert needs to rally the players, making the fans believe that he is the right man to lead Villa forward. He needs to do it quickly. Millwall await in the FA Cup on Friday and then Newcastle United visit here for a tense Premier League game next week.

Villa are embroiled in a relegation dogfight and they need more leaders than are currently stepping from the dressing room on match-day.

Villa also lacked width at times, painfully so. They lacked organisation at defensive set-pieces. They failed to exploit their number of chances in the first half when hunting the early goal to drag them back into contention, despite pouring forward. Even before his neat strike, Benteke was a mobile menace. Charles N’Zogbia also started in lively fashion, making good ground down the right, whipping in a cross that Benteke headed wide. Matthew Lowton went close.

The mood was so much better from Lambert’s men, a sense of urgency filling their every move. Even Stephen Ireland snapped into a tackle.

The pressure began building on Duke’s goal. Rory McArdle did well to intercept a Benteke cutback aimed at Agbonlahor.

Villa had to be wary. There is such resilience in this team of Parkinson’s. Joe Bennett was too anxious to close Hines down, and gifted Bradford a free-kick. Jones swept the ball and Hanson headed over. As the second half showed, Villa failed to learn the lesson.

Bradford fans were in good voice, taunting the hosts with “That’s why you’re going down” when a Villa move broke down. Yet they were building inexorably. Benteke wasted a free header. Then Fabian Delph stormed forward on a 40-yard run but shot over.

Villa’s persistence was rewarded after 24 minutes. Joe Bennett’s left foot curled in a cross and there was Benteke, exploiting lax marking by Carl McHugh and McArdle, to propel the ball past Duke. The Holte End breathed a little easier. For a while.

They needed a second. Duke denied N’Zogbia with a tip-over save. Bradford’s keeper then thwarted Ireland. There was a reminder of the need for total concentration as the half closed. Nahki Wells curled a left-footed shot just wide.

That reminder was not heeded. Bradford made it 1-1 on the night, 4-2 on aggregate when Jones curled in a corner and Hanson headed home.

Panic spread through Villa. Their brittle belief ebbed. Needing two goals, Lambert sent on reinforcements, Darren Bent and Andreas Weimann, but it was Bradford who went closest to finding another goal when Garry Thompson hit the bar. Then Wells cut in from the left, but his effort was blocked by Ron Vlaar.

Benteke and Bent led the line, Weimann was on the right, with Agbonlahor on the left but even with all that talent, they could not find a way back into this game. They had all these strikers but no wingers. Some of their fans began leaving early.

In the 89th minute, Weimann gave Villa late hope, slotting the ball past Duke. Mike Dean, the fourth official, then indicated four minutes injury time. Yet Bradford calmly ran down the clock, and when Phil Dowd blew the final whistle, the sound was immediately drowned out by a deafening roar from those on the best trip of their lives.